HORSE RACING

Saginaw, Awesome Vision finish in dead heat

Published: Thursday, March 21, 2013 at 9:18 p.m.

Last Modified: Thursday, March 21, 2013 at 9:18 p.m.

NEW YORK — Saginaw and Awesome Vision finished in dead heat for the win in the $75,000 Compelling Word Stakes for New York breds Thursday at Aqueduct.

Saginaw sprinted clear at the top of the lane and appeared on his way to another victory until Awesome Vision, the trailer in the six-horse field turning for home, came charging late to share the prize.

The victory improved Saginaw’s record to 2 for 2 on the season after a 2012 campaign in which he went 10 for 14. Junior Alvarado was aboard for trainer David Jacobson as the 7-year-old gelding improved to 18 for 37, paying $2.70, $2.70 and $2.10.

Awesome Again, a 4-year-old making his stakes debut, got his fifth win in seven starts. Jose Ortiz rode for trainer Tom Albertrani as Awesome Again posted a third straight victory. He paid $3.60, $3.40 and $2.80.

Johannesburg Smile paid $2.20 to show.

The time was 1:36.46 for the mile.

Cheltenham-Injured Jockey: At Bristol, England, a doctor says Irish jockey JT McNamara did not suffer a brain injury after his fall from a horse at the Cheltenham Festival.

Dr. Adrian McGoldrick, senior medical officer of the Irish Turf Club, says in a statement released Thursday by the Injured Jockeys Fund that the 37-year-old McNamara remains in stable condition in the intensive care unit of a hospital in Bristol.

McNamara fractured two vertebrae in his neck after coming off Galaxy Rock in a race last week, and McGoldrick says the “vertebral damage remains serious.”

There will be no further update on McNamara’s condition until at least next week.

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